Medical devices have become increasingly complex in terms of function and geometry. More recently, it has been recognized that chemical coatings provided to the surface of medical devices can enhance function and effectiveness of the medical device in vivo. In particular, there has been a great need for providing coatings to small implantable medical devices, such as stents, which often have intricate geometries. In some cases, when these medical devices having intricate geometries are subject to a coating procedure, webbing or bridging of the coating solution may occur, resulting in a coating that hinders the device from functioning properly. Other coating reagents and techniques utilize light to fix the coating compound on the device surface. However, methods involving light activation can potentially be inadequate for providing uniform coatings over the entire surface of the device. In particular inner surfaces of devices can be difficult to access with an activating amount of light.
It is therefore desirable to provide uniform coatings to devices having intricate geometries and coatings to portions of the device that have inner surfaces.
It can be advantageous to provide coatings that improve the biocompatibility and improve surface properties, such as lubriciousness, of the coated device.